Our Home Study, Part 2

Praise God! Just wanted to update everyone on where we are. The beginning of the week we mailed in our formal application and a check for $1095 to AAI. I was able to email with our caseworker yesterday and get some "homework" to get started on. The past couple of weeks I've also been working on creating our profile that gets submitted to birth parents -talk about difficult. There's such a temptation to think that the words and pictures you craft have to be perfect. I've come to the truth though that regardless of what is in that four page portfolio God knows who are child is. It truly takes the pressure off... mostly.

Probably the most exciting hurdle was removed about 45 minutes ago though. We had our final home study meeting this morning at our home. We knew the first meeting had gone well, but still I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  We were told once again we were all set, and here's the best part.... we should have our report by the end of the month! We went into this adoption being most nervous about the home study process, but we have been so blessed to work with an incredible sister in Christ from St. Andre's in Biddeford. If you need a home study done Nancy is one of a kind and such an encouragement and blessing to work with.

So that's where we're at. It feels like we're moving along quickly and the Lord just keeps opening doors. Next up is getting everything together for AAI, and our profile finished. We are praying that by this time next month everything will be submitted and the true wait will begin.

For now we have a couple of prayer requests for you to consider:

• Pray for the Lord's guidance in this entire process.
• Pray for our baby's mother, for her pregnancy, her health, her emotions, and most importantly her walk with the Lord.
• We will be having a fundraising yard sale on May 14th. Please pray for donated items to sell, for good weather, and that the whole day would be blessed.
• Finances.... the Lord has provided and we know He will continue to. 
• Timing... we our told in Hebrews 4:16: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." So in boldness (and honestly, with timidity) we are praying that God would do the impossible and that we would adopt before the end of June. As it stands right now to receive the Adoption Tax Credit we need to have our adoption finalized by the end of 2011. It takes six months for an adoption to be finalized, so with that in mind to guarantee that we would be eligible for the credit we need to adopt by the end of June. If this isn't the Lord's will, we pray that the ATC would be renewed for 2012. 
• Pray for focus for me. It's going to be a busy few months with the adoption and the graduation of our daughter (YAY KAHLI!). Pray that I would keep my focus on the Lord and serving Him, and waiting on Him. That I wouldn't become overwhelmed or stressed out trying to do things in my own strength.